Tuesday, 16 April 2013

HOPE UPON HOPE

This weekend’s news has left a very bad taste in my mouth, to
put it mildly. Yet another bombing; yet another tragic atrocity that proves
that we as humans have an innate anger and bestiality that I will never
understand. And of course the media as per usual is pouring blood in the water
to stir things up to a shark-infested frenzy. In fact, I cannot even turn CNN
on anymore for fear of seeing the detritus of the bombing as I’m eating my
morning breakfast with the King. Don’t get me wrong, I’m in full support of news
reportage, but anyone that reads this blog knows how I view the
sensationalistic slant of the media these days (or for the last two decades!). Do I feel for the eight year
old and his family who were victims of this senseless crime? More than words
can say. Do I think it’s appropriate to splash his face all over the Internet
and print media from here to China? No, I’d like to think we could show more
reserve than that and show his family some respect.

The other baffling thing about this weekend’s events – aside
from how and why they happened in the first place – is this eternal question after
every attack of this nature to qualify if it’s indeed a ‘terrorist’ attack
(thank you S.A for bringing this to attention on FB). Seriously, is this what concerns us most about what has happened this past weekend? The label of it? By definition a terrorist
is someone who uses violence for political aims. So I’d say blowing up hundreds of
innocent civilians after a marathon is not only using violence for a political
aim, but it’s screaming to the world, ‘see me, hear me, I want to bring about
mass destruction in the name of something.’ And isn’t any violent act
terrorizing someone?

I get it, we as society need someone to blame; we need to
label that party that claims responsibility (or doesn't, which we like even better cause then the hunt begins) and go after them with a vengeance.
We need to write slogans about bringing them down and plaster it across every
news bulletin. We NEED an enemy. It is apparently what we thrive upon these
days (or ever since the Cold War), someone to hate, someone to burn in effigy,
someone to wear the mask of the bogey man late at night. And these days it's not that hard to find one.

However, for me it never changes. That bogeyman is man. Plain and simple. No matter
what party or fundamentalist group he (or she) belongs to, he is a human
steeped in anger and hell bent on mass destruction. He has lost the ability to
function in the real world of reason and rationality. He has killed any ounce
of compassion that may have lived within him (or had it killed); he has gone to
war on his fellow man (and child) and deemed this necessary in the name of
politics and purpose. For once again, you don’t do something like this if you aren’t trying
to say something. Not in these times.

So for those that lost their lives over the weekend, I mourn
for you. I truly do. I mourn for the injured and the people that love you. More
importantly, I mourn for all of us (especially you my King) that things like
this seem to be happening more and more. And I pray that one day we return to a
society where a child can simply go see his father crossing the finish line
without losing his life.